US to hit six nations that tax internet-based companies with tariffs

04/05/2021

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The Irish Times

The US is pressing ahead with plans to hit six nations that tax internet-based companies with retaliatory tariffs that could total almost $1 billion annually.

Goods entering the US – ranging from Austrian grand pianos and British merry-go-rounds to Turkish Kilim rugs and Italian anchovies – could face tariffs of as much as 25 per cent annually, documents published by the US Trade Representative show.

The duties are in response to countries that are imposing taxes on technology firms that operate internationally such as Amazon. com and Facebook.

In each of the six cases, the USTR proposes to impose tariffs that would roughly total the amount of tax revenue each country is expected to get from the US companies. The cumulative annual value of the duties comes to $880 million, according to Bloomberg News calculations.

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